"A diverse coalition of 19 groups announced today a lawsuit against the United States government for 'an illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet electronic surveillance', known as the Associational Tracking Program, which collects all telephone records handled by Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint in the US. The group, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, aims to compel the government to inventory and disclose the records in its possession, to destroy them, and to immediately end the surveillance program."

"Republic" and "Democracy" are not mutually exclusive terms. Republic refers to the fact that, in the cases of France and the US, the head of state is an elected position and not a lifetime or inherited appointment (at least in theory). Whereas Democracy refers to the electoral process.

Which is why the US and France are democratic republics, again in theory. Practice obviously differs...